The present invention relates to narrowcast communication systems, and more particularly to a method for providing adaptive data rate control for narrowcast communication systems.
A satellite communications narrowcast network typically consists of a large Earth terminal, referred to as a hub, transmitting an uplink to a satellite repeater. The satellite repeater receives, amplifies, and re-transmits the signal on a downlink to a plurality of subscriber terminals. Each of the subscriber terminals receives the downlink signal from the satellite. In many applications the data is individually addressed to a single subscriber terminal or to small group of subscriber terminals (narrowcast) which is a subset of all terminals which receive the transmission. In a typical application, the hub time division multiplexes (TDM) the individually addressed packets data into a single stream. Each subscriber terminal receives and demodulates the downlink data stream, but only processes the data which is individually addressed to that particular subscriber terminal.
To service the largest possible number of subscriber terminals, the hub terminal should transmit the TDM data stream at the highest possible data rate. The received carrier to noise spectral density, C/No, for each of the subscriber terminals may be different and may be time varying due to different link and propagation conditions. Such link conditions are due to, but not limited to, variations in the satellite EIRP to specific subscriber terminals based upon location, as shown by the satellite transmit antenna contours in FIG. 2, or differences in the G/T of the subscriber terminals. Propagation conditions typically result in additional path loss due to precipitation or other atmospheric conditions. Loss due to precipitation, commonly known as “rain fading,” is a frequent occurrence in commercial satellite communications and is especially prevalent at Ku band (12-18 GHz) and Ka Band (27-40) GHz transmissions. Since the data must be received by all subscriber terminals, at virtually all times, the data rate, modulation, and forward Error Correction (FEC) coding selected for use must be based upon the worst anticipated C/No among all subscriber terminals in the network. This approach results in the selection of a much lower data rate than most subscriber terminals could support for a majority of the time.
Several techniques have been developed to overcome the problem of rain fading. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,199 describes a methodology for adjustment of the Hub EIRP as to maintain a constant C/No as seen by the satellite. The adjustment is determined by having the Hub terminal monitor the downlink of its own transmission. This technique is useful in compensating for rain fading on uplink transmissions but does not provide any compensation for downlink transmissions.
A technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,538 that provides uplink and downlink rain fade mitigation on point-to-point satellite links. This approach uses feedback from the receiving terminal on the receiver signal quality. The transmitting terminal adjusts its output power in accordance with the signal quality indication determined by the receiving terminal. The effectiveness of this approach is limited in the case of downlink rain fade because, in many cases, the hub terminal uplink EIRP cannot be arbitrarily increased without having an adverse effect on the transponder operation point or input backoff. Similar schemes have been devised to get around this limitation by using the signal quality indication to vary the code rate of the transmission. Although this eliminates the aforementioned problem, it is still not an acceptable approach for a narrowcast system, where multiple subscriber terminals will, in general, indicate different signal qualities. In addition, adaptation of the code rate alone, from rate=1/2 to rate=7/8, can typically only provide about 2 dB of adjustment in the Eb/No requirement. If one maintains the symbol rate constant, the information rate will change by 2.4 dB from a rate=1/2 to rate=7/8 code. The total adjustment range in the C/No requirement is thus about 4.4 dB. For high link availability, this is not sufficient for many rain regions especially in the higher frequency bands, such as the Ka band.
An applicable technique is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,786. In this patent, Gurantz and Wright describe a method where two orthogonal BPSK carriers are provided using QPSK modulation. One BPSK carrier contains a high data rate where the other uses a lower data rate. In an alternate embodiment of the referenced invention, individual addressing of portions of the frame is described. This embodiment is suitable for narrowcast applications where most ground stations would receive their data on the higher data rate channel. Ground stations adversely affected by precipitation would receive their data on the lower data rate channel. The limitation of this method is that subscriber terminals only have two choices for their quality of service, mainly the higher data rate or the lower data rate. Moreover, 50 percent of the channel resources have to be dedicated to the lower channel rate.
An opportunity exists for a method of data rate control that: i) compensates for the differences in downlink conditions for a narrowcast network; ii) provides a large range of adjustment for the C/No requirement; and iii) provides many different data rates or C/No options.